It’s pretty hard to tell the difference between Treeing Walker coonhounds and foxhounds. Most of the differences are behavioral rather than visibly structural, and the behavioral differences are most evident in a hunting setting.

Both American foxhounds and coonhounds had the same ancestors--hounds brought from Europe to the Americas in colonial days. In Europe, desirable game did not climb trees to get away from hounds. Hounds were mostly used to chase deer and foxes. In the Americas, gray foxes, raccoons, opossums, black bears, bobcats, and mountain lions all climb trees when they want to get away from hounds, so American hunters selectively bred those hounds that looked for scent on trees and barked at treed game, holding it there for the hunter.

The offspring of this selective breeding became the coonhound breeds. The tri-colored coonhounds, the ones that look oversized beagles, were separated out as an individual breed, Treeing Walker Coonhounds, in the 1940’s. Approximately half of all purebred coonhounds in the United States are Treeing Walkers, with the other half divided between the remaining five or six breeds.

Hounds that were used primarily to hunt red foxes, coyotes or deer did not need to check tree trunks for scent, so they remained foxhounds (in less formal circles, they are sometimes referred to as “running” as opposed to “treeing” hounds) even though some of them do tree game that will tree. To confuse matters further, there are some hunters that use purebred coonhounds to hunt game that will not tree, like coyotes. There are a lot more coonhounds than foxhounds in shelters, especially in places where there isn't a big coyote problem.

A running Walker foxhound taking a break to get a good view during a coyote hunt. Owned by Jay Colisimo of Lockport, NY

Within the foxhound breeds, there are several different named strains, including the running Walker hounds. A running Walker looks just like a Treeing Walker, but it generally has a slightly leaner and racier build (imagine a little greyhound mixed in), making it fast on the ground.

The formal mounted foxhunts generally use a sturdier looking hound that is heavier than a typical coonhound with slightly shorter ears. One such strain is called the Penn Marydel hound.

Photo courtesy of Beth Gyorgy. The foxhound on the right is adoptable. Limbo is a 7-year-old female who has hunted with a mounted foxhunt for 6 years. She doesn’t want to hunt anymore so is being retired. She is a sweet, mild-mannered, affectionate hound with beautiful, unusual, red and white markings. She also comes from an especially sturdy line of foxhounds. She is spayed, very healthy, and will have a physical exam, any necessary shots, and a dental cleaning before going to her permanent home. Hounds who have hunted make excellent family pets, adapting readily to their new pack (a great source of security for them). Hounds are almost always easy to housetrain and take readily to a crate. Please email info@coonhoundcompanions.com for more information.

The hunting dog registries generally recognize two breeds of foxhound (American and English) and six or seven breeds of coonhound (black and tan, bluetick, English, leopard, Plott, redbone, and treeing Walker). Some hunters breed "grade" hounds that are not registered, and may be crosses between the different coonhound and foxhound breeds, or even have a little bloodhound mixed in. This is particularly common among big game (black bears and mountain lions) hunters out west.

Within the individual breeds, there are a number of "strains" or "bloodlines" that you wouldn't be able to tell apart without seeing their pedigrees.

When it comes to coat color, very few treeing Walker coonhounds are almost entirely white, although there are some, particularly those in the Clover bloodline. In general, a dog that is almost entirely white, with just a little sprinkling of other colors, is most likely a foxhound. There was an old time French breed of hound called a porcelaine that was almost entirely white. However, dogs of many breeds with predominantly white coats may have a genetic tendency to deafness, so they are not necessarily the best breeding stock.

A porcelaine. From petwiki. http://thepetwiki.com/images/Porcelaine.jpg

Coonhounds with a black saddle on their back are highly prized in show circles. Coonhounds with almost no white—mostly brown legs and black saddlebacks--are known as “high tans.” This color pattern is somewhat more common in coonhounds than foxhounds, but not all that common in either.

Coonhounds that have been bred to look up trees often throw their heads way back when they bay, and are very given to putting their front paws up on anything handy—a tree with game in it, a kitchen counter, some stranger they are greeting effusively. This is bred-in behavior, but can be modified. A pet coonhound can and should be trained to stay off the kitchen counter and not jump on strangers.

Foxhounds trained to hunt in large packs, like those that hunt with the mounted hunts, are more deferential and are less likely to be terribly independent, but this comes from training, and this behavior will not show up in pups.

I have a lot of experience with hounds of all kinds, and even I have trouble recognizing the difference between coonhounds and foxhounds without seeing their papers or watching them work.

At Coonhound Companions, we're working hard to find pet homes for the failed hunters. In the right home, where their loud voices are appreciated and their affectionate loyal natures are reciprocated, they are extremely good pets.

And then there's Clyde. Clyde looks like a TWC until you get up next to him and realize he's the size of a small Great Dane bitch.

Clyde is available for adoption at San Antonio Great Dane Rescue, which somehow seems appropriate. He's got a wonderful personality ... unless you're a squirrel.

Trampas Graham

01/13/2013 17:00

Yes, very helpful--thank you. I have a treeing walker that looks like the one on the hay bale. In fact, she would be standing on that bale all the time if it were on our land--haha.

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Jenny Ransey

12/01/2013 05:29

I have a rescued what I thought to be a TWC until I read this website. I believe I have a Running Walker. He has long lanky legs and is svelt in build. I have trouble keeping weight on him. We do not hunt nor am I even familiar with anything hunting. He is strictly a companion dog. He does throw his head back when he howls or bays, and he is almost as fast as my daughter's Greyhound. He is around two years old. Can someone please tell me when he will stop chewing on things and settle down? He is hyper and loud and somewhat destructive. We moved to a house with six acres and he gets to run with the Dalmatian next door. I am hoping this is still puppy stuff. Please advise.

Yes, its puppy stuff. Some grow out of it sooner than others. Two is about the typical age they settle down, but some are much older--I have one that didn't settle down until 4, and he settled down then because we got him a "younger brother" to set an example for. Hounds only listen to people they have respect for, so you need to be firm and consistent with him, and put away your chewables. Engaging his nose will settle him down faster than physical exercise--a running Walker can chase coyotes all day, 25+ miles on snow if he's in good shape. Try scent games or a dog sport.

Jenny Ramsey

12/03/2013 06:49

Thanks, Emily for the reply. What are scent games? I would love to get online with others who have coonhounds as companions so we can share issues and tips. I live near. Monroe, North Carolina. Anyone else near me? Please let me know.

Jenny
You might enjoy the coonhound fanciers group on Yahoo groups. It sometimes goes inactive for awhile, but there are a lot of knowledgeable and enthusiastic pet coonhound people there. You can also share on our Coonhound Companions facebook page.
For some scent games, go here:
http://suzanneclothier.com/content/articles
sign the agreement then look under articles for scent games.

job.

02/15/2014 22:17

It takes a while for them to stop chewing on things try chew toys with bacon grease but not to much or it could kill him just anough to got it a smell will work and to put weight in by a high fat maitnence food

CINDY STURGILL

12/30/2013 10:46

I have just recently adopted Walker Hound
She's 5-7 years old and just had a litter of pups about 5 weeks ago
Her name is Dorey, after having her pups she developed a severe Uterine infection. She received treatment but was unable to nurse her pups. The pups were taken to a foster home and bottle fed there were 6 puppies only 3 survived. When Dorey was pregnant she was pulled from my local animal shelter. I was asked to foster Dorey. I accepted and have fallen in love with her so I'm going to keep her.I'm so amazed how smart she is and very easy to housebreak and she loves her crate. Sweetest dog I've ever seen.

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Craig Smith

03/06/2014 18:11

I wish you had room for two more Cindy. We found two pups on the road last July and thought they were beagles. Turns out they are both TWC. They are great dogs, fun loving and playful. They just need a place to run and kids to run with. We don't have that for them, sadly.

Great article on coonhounds and foxhounds! Might I add that coonhounds don't bay all the time -mine only does so when an occassional squirrel (new to the neighborhood) decides to venture in my backyard. Otherwise, my coonie is affectionately referred to as couch hound, because he is so relaxed indoors.

We did go to a local pet and puppy class 2 years ago and Jakey was the star of the show -doing tricks beyond the "norm" and behaving well after classes too. Since his puppy class, Jakey has learned ( on his own) to open the backdoors with a handle and a few other interesting "tricks". It's really up to the owner/adopter to work with ANY dog to create the behavior they desire.

Overall the breed is wonderful -we were looking for a family dog that would enhance our home and love and Jakey gives us that and so much more. If and when, we adopt another dog into our home, we will definately be choosing a coonhound or treeing walker hound. My husband is the only obstacle I face since, if it was up to me, we'd already have 5 more ;)!

We love Jakey and coonhounds in general -the perfect family pet if you have time to devote to playing outdoors, securing your yard and providing a safe and loving home for this well deserving breed!

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angela

04/13/2012 04:18

I completely agree about the husband saying. I currently have 3 dogs 1 of which is a coonhound. I use to have a coonhound bloodhound mix that I missed terribly, but what can you do? I am really pushing it with 3 dogs, I'm actually only fostering 1 of them until the end of June...I also followed a few coonhounds on petfinder to make sure they find homes, because as bad as I wanna take them in, my husband told me a long time ago my limit was 2, and now I have 3 lol.

Most scent hounds only bay on scent, or on hearing or seeing their quarry or to communicate with other dogs. My spoiled brats bay when begging for human food, too. Contrary to popular belief, they don't bay when hearing sirens, fire engines etc. Mine are quite content to ignore all the emergency vehicles in Brooklyn N.Y. They do respond to coyotes in the distance when they are in the Catskillls...

My Running Walker Hound bays at people who frighten him, which is pertnear everyone. His early puppyhood taught him that people exist to hurt dogs. He also bays when he thinks I'm going to take one of the other dogs for a walk and leave him behind, usually right in my face.

kc hamilton

07/27/2014 18:57

I have 5 coonhouns the only time they holler is when someones around or somethings wrong they are like a my family

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M Bogle

10/21/2014 20:23

We have a beautiful walker/ coon dog. He is tri-color. He needs a good home, we can not keep him. Very loving and playful, not aggressive at all. He just showed up at our home a few weeks ago. Would love to find him a really good home! Help please!!

to M. Bogle below
give me what information you can about when and where your hound was found, sex, pix, age (approx), and anything else quirky or identifiable, as well as how best to contact you.
Coonhound Companions is not a rescue, but we can help crosspost your find on hunting boards and lost pet boards, and may be able to help you contact rescue organizations
email me directly at
emily.plishner@gmail.com

I'm so glad that we now have somewhere to send people when they want to know the difference between coonhounds and foxhounds. Bit's and pieces of this information are scattered around the Web, but this is the first time I've seen it all in one place.

Thanks, Emily!

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Julie Goodrich

04/13/2012 19:01

We have a wonderful TWH named Reuben who was a stray, then a rescue in Virginia. He does like to greet people on his hind legs with his front paws on their shoulders (he is tall), so we are working on that. But he is such a good dog and very sweet. Wish more people would consider rescuing hounds....

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Jill Sicheneder

04/16/2012 10:19

Great information and I learned some new things about my Treeing Walker! I will add that we are still working on the counter-surfing issue....

Jill, I think that's a never ending battle with a TWC. The nose and the tummy control everything they do, or think about. :-D

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Jessica

04/30/2012 17:58

I just adopted what was identified by the rescue folks to be a Walker, but I knew there were some English fox hounds in the area as well, so this caught my interest. She's as sweet as can be, and as to the 'counter surfing' as it was said by Jill, I take a common sense approach - keep the counters clear of anything and everything appetizing, including washing dirty dishes right away, and there will be no 'positive reinforcement' for it - eventually she'll simply learn that there's nothing there to bother with. It doesn't hurt that I have a 'big sister' Setter/ACD mix that barks and harasses any of the critters that are breaking house rules (including either the cat or the other dog getting on the counter), and that the Walker acknowledges her to be the 'beta' to my 'alpha', haha! Using that pack mentality to my advantage and keeping temptation out of sight, er, scent... she'll learn the house rules quickly and painlessly. :-)

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Madison

02/05/2014 13:28

Immediate removal of dirty dishes is a must!! I have a TWC who will wake up in the mornings before I do and take any dishes out of the sink and proceed to "clean" them (and chew them) on my living room rug. Mine also has an issue with the dogs next door - she bays when they're out and she's inside, and if I let her out when they're out she'll run the fence line barking at them nonstop - any suggestions on how to correct this behavior would be appreciated :)

Madison
For the dishes, I let mine lick the plates before I put them in the sink! (we don't have a dishwasher.)
Short of that, close the kitchen door or do some serious aversive training with the "can monster": sting together a couple of empty soda or beer cans with pebbles or pennies in them. Place them along the edge of the counter where the hound will get tangled in them and make a terrible racket. Only do this when you're home to rescue the hound!
For the yard barking, the hound is just being sociable in a loud-mouthed way. A no-bark collar may work, or a scheduled "play date" with the other dog, if its sociable. If they like each other, no rewarding with play time if there's barking going on.

Katie Owens

05/02/2012 10:01

Thank you for this info. I have arguments all the time with folks on what Breed my doggie is. Many say he is a Foxhound while I'm sticking to my Treeing Walker Hound theory. He was a stray pup, so he may not be a pure bred, but nonetheless we get comments on how handsome he is all the time. I would love to have someone who is familiar with the breed help me out on exactly what he is. He's straight out of Albemarle County, which is where I believe the breed originated. His coloring is very similar to the first photo... but his ears aren't quite as long. He is also 68 lbs and has a long slender build more like a greyhound. He is super fast, but also has a thing for every tree he passes and has an obsession for squirrels. Now hopefully I will be more educated when people ask me about his breed.

and look for one near you. These are family friendly events and no raccoons are harmed. No alcohol or firearms allowed. The times on the listings are entry deadlines. Your hound won't be allowed to participate in the formal events, so there won't be any cost to you unless you buy something from the kitchen, but the other houndsmen will be glad to offer their opinions. If you ask to spectate on the hunt, they'll even take you out into the woods with them at night.

You can order a DNA test on amazon (wisdom brand) for $55. Confirmed a blue tick coonhound and a silver Swiss shepherd for us (both were rescues.) Just a swab in mouth and your name & address is required

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gina

10/05/2013 11:35

Thanks Heather, good to know. I thought those tests were way more expensive. I'd like to know what my boy is. The rescue said beagle/TWC and while I see both of those in him, he has longer fur and a tail that curves over his back.

Matt

06/06/2012 01:51

Thank you for the info, I got a puppy last year that was advertised as a running walker hound. I was raised with my father owning anf hunting treeing walkers and thought they must be the same, and as a pup they looked the same. But now that my femal is a year old i was noticing her ears are tooo short for a TWH, and i have treid to get her to chase squrriel int he park and she has no interest in treeing, but go nuts when she hears coyotes around the house at night.I don't hunt her but need to find a way to get her more physical activty, how do the rest of you keep hounds happy and physcaly fit. A two or three mile Walk to dog built to Run 10 or 15 miles in night don't do much except to help me get in better shape.

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Steve

10/11/2013 04:06

I know this is an old thread but get a wading pool deep enough so she can't touch bottom. Put her in and make her swim for 30 minutes every 3 or 4 days.

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David Blalock

11/09/2013 12:40

If you have a high school or local college nearby, you may consider (as we did) pay a small fee to get a member of the track team to run your dog. We've had a girl from our local college (Christopher Newport University) run our dog for the last two years two times a week, sometimes three. She's graduating but I'm sure she'll recommend another dog lover to run our dog.

Nothing like playing with another dog to wear a coonhound out. If you have a fenced yard or access to a dog park, turn her loose with another dog. They will wear each other out!

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Christina

06/14/2012 12:59

This is very helpful - thank you! I just adopted a dog from a local rescue almost 2 months ago who they have labeled a Treeing Walker and was wondering how they knew! He was rescued near Fort Knox TN and brought up to upstate NY where we met him and fell in love. He has the tri-color pattern with pale black spots on his legs and stomache (more like black spots of skin color with white fur growing in them) He's very untypical for coonhounds I am told - in that he's primarily a couch potato! He is satisfied with 2 miles of walking a day and some good romping play sessions (with people or dogs) and many short training sessions. His foster mom in TN said he was more like a lab than a TWC in behavior! After reading this I still think hes a TWC - he throws his head back to bay and likes to put his paws up on trees after squirrels or any other scents he might find. I'm in love with his colorations now and a new found fan of hounds!

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BellaMama

06/16/2012 19:50

Hey, those spots skin spots are called 'ticking' and are essentially freckles and are on the skin... They tend to get busier as they get older and I love it!

Thanks for the info! They think he is about 4 years old and he has a few ticking spots, so that makes sense.

I am wondering now though - how do you tell apart a TWC and a harrier? As much as I stare at pictures they look the same! My hound seems a bit small for a TWC - around 53-55lbs or so. I haven't checked his height yet. It seems based on population size he is far more likely to be a TWC than a harrier, but now I'm curious! I included a link to some pictures of him.

Very informative article! I have a dog that's half TWC (the rest is Beagle with apparently a dash of Greyhound mixed in according to a DNA test, but not sure I totally believe it). Some people mistake her for a Foxhound, but she definitely has the TWC personality. She trees squirrels and opossum and jumps on the trees, throwing her head back and barking like you've mentioned here. She tried to climb our apple tree once and almost made it up there!

Be careful about the apple tree climbing. A fair number of coonhounds do learn to climb trees! Hunters hate it when they learn, because they are way better at climbing up than down. And coonhounds that have figured out how to climb will teach the skill to other hounds.
My first redbone learned how to climb trees, and he started with apple trees. He would use his mouth to hang onto a branch above him while he lifted first one rear foot, then the other. After he got good at apple trees, he figured out trees where the branches were farther apart, and before long he was shinnying up branchless trees like a little monkey! Rooster was pretty careful about getting out of trees--he would jump uphill or into water or use me to break his fall. Other hounds are not always so careful, and some get hurt falling from heights, either stabbed by sticks on the way down or getting injured by landing too hard or on top of another dog that is not happy about it.
Del Cameron, who wrote a well-known book about his mountain lion hunting blueticks, The Call of the Hounds, wrote that some of his hounds went up 70 foot trees after lions and jumped out from that height unhurt. That may be stretching it...
I have to admit I always got a kick out of seeing Rooster up a tree. Its all part of the passion with which hounds do what they do...

Thanks for the advice. I watch her like a hawk when she's outside and luckily she hasn't tried to climb that apple tree anymore (actually we may be taking it down soon... it's dying and lost quite a few limbs during Hurricane Sandy). I also watch her when she's at the fence.
I read somewhere that some coonhounds will gnaw on branches/twigs of trees, or just break them off with their mouths? I've noticed my dog likes to do this, though I'm curious about why.

Lisette
Coonhounds care more about scent than smell. If one of your cats were to pee on a fuzzy pink toy, the hound would take an interest. Cats can usually take care of themselves indoors, especially if they have a safe place to retreat to, and a coonhound can usually learn to her own family's cats, but a running cat, even cats she gets along with inside would probably trigger hunting instincts, and result in your cat climbing way up a tree. Keep those cat/coonhound interactions indoors or carefully supervised!

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megan

10/26/2012 10:03

I have a walker I thhink? we have only had her for about 2 monthes. Rescue Rosie is 6 1/2 we think that is what the vet is telling us. She is gun shy and I think has had some hard times. I am reading everything I can get my hands on.
I would like to speak to someone about this breed. She is wonderful and very kind. I want to make sure she is getting what she needs from us. If you could contact me 219-742-1483 it would be great. The information above was helpful.

Megan you are probably very near Robdar's Houndsong Rescue, a coonhound rescue organization in Hammond IN
They would be an excellent resource for you!
http://www.houndsong.com/mission.php

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Marian

11/01/2012 13:11

I found one of these dogs and need to find a good home for her. I'm in Arkansas. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it. She's smart, pretty, very sweet, and jumps in and out of my fenced yard whenever she feels like it. I'm afraid something will happen to her, so want to find her a good home in the country. Thanks.

Coonhound Companions is not a rescue group, but we can make some suggestions.

Please post to the Coonhound Rescue Network Page on Facebook if you have a Facebook page. If not, contact us at info@coonhoundcompanions.com and include pictures and the contact information you want us to use.

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Mike

11/13/2012 18:19

My wife and I love twc s I take as many as I can get we have a large place with high fence so if any body needs to get rid of one email me please

It's great that you have the space and love the Treeing Walkers. There are certainly many in rescue that need homes. The best way to help if you want to adopt is to work through a rescue group. If you go to our Links section you can find the group that's closest to you.

Thank you for visiting Coonhound Companions!

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Marian

11/14/2012 14:16

Thanks Mike, but she ran away. Jumped the fence a week ago Friday and I haven't seen her since. It appears the people on this site didn't want me to find a home for her on here anyway. I emailed a couple of rescue groups and neither replied, so it appears they didn't want to help either. I am a TRUE dog lover and would bend over backwards to help ANY dog in need. Thanks.

Marian, it's not that rescue groups don't WANT to help- those of us who rescue primarily hounds wish we could help them all- it's simply numbers: numbers of dogs needing help, numbers of available foster homes for those dogs, and numbers of dollars in our bank accounts to enable us to properly care for those dogs we do take on. I don't know of a hound rescue- or any other type of dog rescue- that isn't short on all three points. I'm sorry she ran away.

Lucy

02/26/2015 13:21

I have a female twc that needs a good home. Can you tell me where you live and if you still want additional dogs? Thank you.

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Angela Faeth

11/14/2012 08:27

I second Jerry's comment. The safest way to know that you are helping our homeless hounds is to go through a rescue group. Not only are you saving the life of the hound you are adopting, but you are opening up space for another shelter dog to get a second chance at life. Adopt don't shop or swop!

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Renee

11/30/2012 11:22

Mike should go to petfinder.com and enter his zip code and keyword walker hound or just walker. You'll find a wealth of dogs available, its just a matter of finding one that fits with your family. The people and organizations listing on petfinder are very helpful.

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Jessica

12/01/2012 14:54

One question: Is it normal for young Walkers to be mouthy sometimes? My Walker mix is just over a year old and she loves to mouth our hands when she's in a really playful mood. I realize she's still a pup and has lots of energy to burn, but it often hurts when she mouths. I try to discourage it by turning my back to her, which usually helps but not all the time. Is this something she'll outgrow when she gets older or should we seek the help of a trainer (or should we try to find ways to stimulate her brain and wear down her energy? She already gets at least a couple long walks a day, has lots of toys and loves to run in our large back yard).

I don't know that I'd say it's "normal", but it's not uncommon for hound puppies to be mouthy. The ones I've dealt with we've been able to convince not to do that well before they turned one. Turning your back on her should work, but only if you and all members of the household do it very consistently.

At this point you might do well to engage a trainer. I always recommend basic training for ANY dog, and dealing with issues like that just comes along with it. Where are you located?

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Jessica

12/01/2012 15:32

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to have to stress "very consistently" - sometimes my dad teases her and encourages her to mouth.

I'm on Long Island in NY.

Gene

02/09/2014 15:54

Thanks to all contributors for helping us with our coonies. I have had well-trained great companion dogs throughout my life, and until a year ago it never occurred to me that I might need help with keeping a dog. Sorry, I don't know where to jump in so my comments will be noticed by the intended. (Many comments are years old.) We have what was advertised as a TWC/Plott Hound Mix, and Chester appears to be that. (He is Chester because he broke an elbow and occasionally limps, and there was a deputy on "Gunsmoke"...) Anyway Chet has the TWC red/white coloring up front, and two large brindle (Plott) spots on the rear side. At 18 mos. he is very mouthy. Playfully (after much instruction) bites my hand in play. He chews anything he can get his mouth on. Especially bad about the bedclothes, which he "shaves," nibbling with his front teeth. When he isn't chewing on my arm in play --yes, I know it's rotten training, but c'mon, he's a puppy! -- he is chewing on a toy. Or an iPhone. We have some acreage, and I built a 250-foot zipline with a pulley for him to go out for his business. Modified it several times until he can't get away. He is on it 6-10 hours/day in 2-3 hour stints, because he loves it. He runs and runs unless he is singing--head back and full-throat! Our neighbors are far enough away not to complain. Not only head back, but standing up stretched out to full length! He does that inside, too, looking for peanut butter, anything on the counter, or some love. He is the most damnable, most affectionate dog one could want. Until today I had not heard of a "Running" Walker. Chester may be that. Tall, thin, very long legs, mongoose-quick and nimble, and he can run literally for hours.(Unusual in my experience, he is not obsessed with food. He seeks the usual treats, etc., but often will not eat them for awhile. He grazes at his food dish over a couple hours and never wolfs his food.) At under 40# he was the runt of his litter. We also had the alpha male (killed by a car). He had no brindle spots and surely would have grown to 80#. I am installing an electric fence around approximately 5 acres, and I have been concerned that he would run through it. But a snowstorm--plus a zipline pulley that he broke--forced me to release him outdoors this weekend. I was worried--more like terrified-- that he would take off, but he has been a perfect citizen in that regard--comes to the door and gives the ol' coonie holler to come in! Our coonie is sweet-natured, energetic beyond belief, and a great companion. Including outside, with this caveat: Not once--not once--has he ever even acknowledged that I am calling him, much less actually responded and come to me. (Try thre old "pull on the rope" training? Forget it. Yes, he has been to obedience class. The instructor, whom I know to be good, after two group sessions asked me not to leave and not return. Chester howled (because of his classmates) for 90 mins straight and would not obey anything. So to sum up, we have this skinny 1/2-breed coonie that frequently walks around on his hind legs (he has exceptionally sharp toe nails for climbing) and if allowed would spend all of his time standing on chair backs and tables--I think there must be a Russian circus that would pay big bucks for him. Outside he howls and runs for hours on end. Inside, he has finally consented to play with the cat -- the cat putting him on the run helped quite a bit -- but as someone here said, I'm not so sure how it would go outside. Treeing or Running Walker coonies are the highest-maintenance, most lovable dogs I can imagine.

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Jenny

02/09/2014 16:27

Gene,
I enjoyed reading your post. I have what I believe is a Running Walker Coonhound. He has long skinny legs and he can run like the wind. Let me start out by saying he is the biggest pain in the behind I ever had. BUT, we love him and he is a companion dog. We do not hunt, don't know a thing about hunting. We sent him to a 5-week training course and he is trained now with an electric collar and it is a life saver. I like to refer to the remote as a hearing aid because they hear you fine and dandy when it is turned up. I am interested In your zip line you installed. Can you please give me details as to what materials you used and how you installed it. I would love to put him out for an hour or two without me being out with him. I stay out with him when he is out on the collar. I am terrified he is go it to take off and get hit. He is really good about coming now when I call him, but if I am not out there to call him, he just bolts off. I live in North Carolina.

Gene
A lot of Chester's issues are "teenage" problems. He will settle down some eventually, although coonhounds are slow to mature and it may be another couple of years. In my experience, having a younger dog around may cause him to settle down more quickly, but the younger dog may then become the mischief maker.
The mouthy play can be curbed by exagerating the pain you feel. Chet doesn't want to hurt you--he's treating you like he would a fur-covered littermate. You can effectively discourage him by letting him know he's going too far. An offended OUCH! when he clamps down should do it. If that doesn't work, use a squirt bottle to discourage him. As for chewing on objects, the more they smell like you, the more he's going to be interested in them. Something like an iPhone, that you handle a lot, is going to be a temptation. Try to keep it in a drawer!
The very high energy level is largely a function of his age. The "zip line" tie out probably helpssome, but you need to engage his nose to tire out his brain and calm him down. Taking up any dog sport will help him see you as an authority figure, but playing scent games will be most effective. There's a sport called "nosework" and there are also organized "trailing" as a dog sport. Or, you can try simple scent games at home. A link to the late Suzanne Clothier's scent game instructions is on the links page of our website here. The link won't work properly until you agree to her "terms of use." These games are meant for all breeds of dog, not just scent hounds, so they are pretty easy for hounds.
An e-collar will work, but make sure you really know how to use it properly before you start. Choose one with a tone as well as shock settings. However, coonhounds are smart enough to know when they have a shock collar on and when they don't. A lot of people find they can maintain control with even a dummy shock collar, but don't leave any shock collar or dummy with probes on continuously--it only takes a couple of days of continuous wearing to cause sores on the neck and get ingrown.
Coonhounds are designed to stand on their hind legs and bark up trees. This is hard wired in them. A significant minority of them actually learn to climb trees. Keep an eye out for that. If he learns to climb trees, the "zip line" arrangement could prove dangerous for him. You would need to switch the attachment to a harness rather than a collar so he doesn't hang himself.

As for not listening, that is not unusual. You need something to get his attention. I use an extremely LOUD whistle called an ACME Thunderer. An e-collar will work if used properly. When all else fails, you can usually get a coonhound to come within reach by peeing on the ground and waiting for him to investigate.You can also try bottled coon scent, which is available from hound supply stores.Keep working on recalls by rewarding with praise and petting. He'll never be perfect, but he should at least be paying enough attention to see whether there's a good reason to come in when you call. Mine know when they are being warned about a passing car, for instance, even if their recall isn't perfect.

Gene
That "shaving" behavior on the bedclothes sounds like a grooming behavior coonhounds usually perform on themselves. Coonhounds are also known to "nest" obsessively by rearranging bedclothes and pillows with extreme intensity, whimpering and digging fairly ineffectively. Its a lot more effective on a leaf pile than with blankets sheets and pillows.

Jenny
You can construct an adequate tie-out with the plastic covered cables available at most pet supply stores. These come either with snap hooks at both ends or with an inground stake at one end.
With the snap hooks, wrap the cable lead around a tree trunk on either end, then clip the dog to the cable with a tree-tie lead from his collar to the cable. A tree-tie lead is available at any hound supply shop. The cable does not have to be suspended above the ground. There are also systems that work like a double clothesline, with the dog attachment running on a pulley allowing it to float more freely than a snaphook on a cable would.
While most coonhounds are willing to take off, they are also pretty good about finding the place where they are fed when they are ready to come home. The biggest danger to them is getting run over--they rarely look before they cross a road.
Running Walkers are foxhounds; treeing walkers are coonhounds.

Gene for Jenny

02/09/2014 21:09

Jenny, Please notice no "reply" was appended to your message, so I hope you notice this

Our situation, outside Portland, OR, is similar to yours. Our pooch was bred for hunting for sure, but he seems to like sleeping in our bed just fine! A fine companion. I am so pleased to hear about your electric collar, which I am now installing, though I have had great foreboding about Chester jumping or racing through it.

OK, this will take awhile. I hope it is not an abuse of the blog.

ABOUT THE ZIP LINE: (Materials to follow.) I have spent much time and effort making and modifying it because I HAD NO CLUE how much stress a little dog can put on a system like this one! But not to worry, I have now been there. In essence, I put two poles in the ground and string a wire between them. Then I put a pulley on the wire and attach a leash to it, so the dog can run the length of the wire and the breadth of the leash times two (both sides of the wire). In my case that's 250' in length x 120' width. IT IS GREAT!

IMPORTANT: The zip line must be in an area clear of trees and other obstructions that your dog can (and within minutes will) become entangled. You must also design your wire with "stops" placed at distances equal to the length of the leash, so that your dog cannot wrap around posts (he will). I'll explain.

CAVEAT: To keep it short, I installed my line and then over time had to re-build it twice, because I under-estimated how strongly a 37# dog can pull. (BTW, check your dog's inner/outer thigh muscles. For a dog his size, they are HUGE AND POWERFUL! When my dog drops into what I call his "turtle" crawl, he has the pull of a Mac truck. So, do it right the first time. No $3.00 pulleys or snap-hooks. You may think you are over-building, but you are not.

POLES/POSTS: I used poles that were available to me: Use either 2@ straight exterior 6x4" x 12' or 14' POSTS with 2@ 4x4" posts for braces (1 per end). OR 2@ 3" or 4" steel basketball posts x 12' or 14' better. You want a pipe to bury, not the basketball hoop with an above-ground water-filled bladder. Whatever post you use, you will need to drill through the post and install a HEAVY-DUTY HOOK to attach the wire. On the post with the winch, I would suggest an additional eye bolt to guide the wire. I installed my posts 10 feet above the ground (so that the wire sags to no less than 8-feet above ground). If lower wire height is OK with you, use shorter posts. An 8' post should decapitate just about everyone. Remember that 3-4' will be buried. With wood posts you will have one brace buried in front of the post. For me 2 bags of concrete for the brace. For the post, 3 bags of concrete. And for a guy-wire--for either wood or steel posts--at the back, 2 bags of concrete. I use the 1/4" wire off the winch for the guy-wire attached with a TURNBUCKLE set in the concrete. 7 60# bags on concrete at each post. You may think this is nutz, but I got here after re-building TWICE as that dog pulled and pulled and the wire itself pulled those posts towards the center (with 3-4' buried in concrete!).

ZIPLINE WIRE: On Amazon I bought a 250' spool of Forney 70451 Wire Rope, Vinyl Coated Aircraft Cable, 250-Feet-by 3/32-Inch thru 3/16-Inch. The vinyl coating has tripped off at the winch, but so far that is not a problem. This wire has worked well for 6 mos. Heavier wire will put added stress on the posts, not necessary. You do not want the wire permanently attached to the posts in the event that you have to replace anything. Recall that you want stops in the zipline so that your dog cannot wrap himself around a post. Your stop can be where you actually cut the rope and terminate both ends of the cut with wire clips and thimbles. Then tie the two thimbles together with a D-ring, carabinier or similar. Before you terminate the center wire, remember, you must put a PULLEY on the middle section of wire. (More about that soon.) I also put spacers on the wire on both sides of the pulley between the pulley and wire clips to prevent it from catching on the wire clips. (Learned it the hard way.) the spacer can be a 2-inch or so 1/2" pip nipple with a 1/2"-to-1/4" reducer at each end. PULLEY: Do not buy a cheap pulley in which the sheaves will separate under stress. Your dog will pull, the pulley wheel slips of the wire, the wire is jammed between the wheel and the sheave, and your dog is stuck. A good pulley is hard to find.

WINCH: From Amazon, TEKTON 5552 1200-lb. Hand Winch Cable. This bolts on to one of the posts. It is excellent quality with ratcheting in both directions. The winch comes with 50-feet of 1/4" wire and a cable hook. You could use this as a leash (the wire between the zipline and the collar), but I think it is too heavy and maybe dangerous for your dog to lug around.(He might be more likely to entangle a leg a break it.)

Jenny, I have described my zipline for you, but my comment was too long. The blog will not accept it. If you're allowed to provide your email address to me, I'll send it to you. Thanks for the info on electric collars and training. We don't hunt, and our pooch seems to like sleeping in our bed just fine!

Gene, you are welcome to break your reply into chunks if it won't take the entire response at once. Ignore the 'error" message--its usually misleading.
Both you and Jenny may want to join the coonhound fanciers group on Yahoo. That is a group of people who own coonhounds as pets and share stories and tips.
https://pets.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CoonhoundFanciers/info
I believe that Jenny is using a "shock" collar operated by a human rather than the the "invisible fence" type e-collar. Most coonhounds will ignore the "stimulus" from an invisible fence on the way out, but refuse to cross the barrier on the way back in. I wouldn't bother with the expense of one of those. The human operted ones such as Tritronics, Sport Dog, and Dogtra brands, are available at most sporting goods supply stores like Cabela's, Gander Mountain, Dick's and LL Bean. They are much mpore industrial strength, but are only useful when you are there to supervise.

Another thing you can try: Exaggerate how much it hurts. When she mouths too hard, a loud OUCH! sounding hurt, not angry. She doersn't want to hurt you, just doesn't know that she is. Puppies need to learn "bite inhibition." They chew pretty hard on each other. Us humans are more delicate!

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cboz

12/22/2012 09:33

Very informative site! I have a 3 year old that looks pretty much exactly like a twc but his coat and markings are exactly that of a black and tan coonhound. He would have made a great hunting dog if he had the training. My old lady rescued him at a high kill shelter in las vegas, nv and I got too attached for her to find him another home. He is a great friend...keep up the great work!

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Shari M.

01/22/2013 08:54

Hi ! So hard to find info about people that actuall own a foxhound and not for hunting. We live in a residential area (with a fenced in backyard and we take her for daily walks or my daughter will run a mile & a half with her) We don't think she was accustomed to TONS of exercise, so what we've been doing seems to work for now. Long story short...we just adopted (1 mo ago) a Foxhound (we think American Foxhound). She is about 3 yrs old, and sweet in every way EXCEPT (with a capital E) when she sees, or thinks she sees a local cat (and squirrels fit into that category) She's slipped a flat collar, got loose from a failed clip on prong collar, and now just goes just a weeeeee bit nutso (very) on a martingale (with a harness as a backup because we are so paranoid after we had to chase her down a couple times in the previous incidents) Besides some training tips which we got this past week) like how to handle her on the martingale etc. - are there any "foxhound" online groups that you know of that I can "join" to talk with others that have the same breed and get some tips etc. Anyway, thanks in advance for any tips or info on any online groups / foxhound forums or anything else you can think of. (p.s. incase it helps, we are in South Florida)
If anyone would like to email me, please do so !! shari1210@gmail.com

Hi Shari,
We've tried everything on our Walker hound, harness, prong, etc and had the same problems as you. He's been good on a martingale (from Cetacea--it has webbing and then the chain martingale. We replace it a couple of times a year just in case). We just had a leash fail (a stick popped open the clip, and off he went) and went to a Knot-a-Leash with a locking carabiner clip. Walkers are amazing, smart, terrific--but challenging to keep safe. Best of luck with yours!

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Nik B

12/04/2013 20:36

A static E-collar is the only way to go for this breed... they learn very quickly what comes after the warning tone, and will do whatever you want to avoid the static, including not chasing after game.

With diligent conditioning, they can be trusted to behave off leash in any environment. Mine follows me on bicycle rides through the city, this is how she gets the exercise she needs, we pass dogs, cats, squirrel, people, cars, etc. on a daily basis.

Honestly it comes down to proper training, don't let them pull on the leash, turn them around in a circle or change direction every time they pull. Anyway, an E-collar is for all intents and purposes mandatory for off-leash training, moreover the breed is not a leash bread; they're working dogs, they need the degree of freedom. my two cents.

Madison

02/05/2014 13:44

We use a martingale for our TWC, however when she is resisting being redirected, she will thrash around to the point where I am afraid she is going to injure her neck - any suggestions?

An elderly hunter taught me how to control my very eager hound with a simple trick. Loop the leash around his chest with a simple half hitch. In other words, attach the leash to the regular collar as usual, then loop it beneath the chest behind the front legs and out again under the "armpit" behind the front leg and above the original loop. This causes the leash to tighten around the chest when the dog pulls. If the dog pulls hard enough, it knocks some air out of his lungs. I've seen a very elderly gentleman control two hounds simultaneously this way.

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Lora

12/15/2014 17:20

You can buy one of these now; it's called the Instant Trainer Dog Leash; Amazon has them, as does Target. I know this because I first tried a Gentle Leader on Homer (3 year old foxhound recently rescued), and he just set his head to it. The Instant Trainer works better; at least he can't pull me over now!

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Kate

02/13/2013 20:24

Use a baking sheet to curb your hound of counter surfing. With a piece of string or dental floss, tie a baking sheet to whatever type of "bait" tempts your hound (hounds have a tendency to swipe items that have your hand scent. In my case - hair brush, ink pen fetish, important IRS document, iphone, remote control). When the hound steals the bait the bakng sheet will crash behind him, startling him away from the bait. Doesn't take long for the hound to become suspicious of anything left in reach. This works well in many variations - I don't have room for a baking sheet on my bathroom counter so I lashed a can of sunscreen to the waste basket. Didn't take long for my hound to come flying out of the bathroom, glancing over his shoulder wondering what the heck just happened! I like this method because I don't have to be the bad guy continuosly yelling "no!".

This is good advice. We've been able to train ours to not countersurf without it, but it requires a lot of monitoring that not everyone can do.

Another variation on this is a soft drink can partially filled with pebbles. Tie it to an item that is tempting, and when the hound pulls the target item off of the counter the noisy can comes crashing down, too. It saves on baking sheets.

Yet another solution is a shock mat. This is a vinyl mat that is electrified by a 9-volt battery. There's no way it can hurt you, but it will make you jump every time you touch it, and does the same for your hound. We've used one to keep dogs off of furniture or cats off of a dresser where they were knocking things off.

All of these ideas share two features: They make certain areas unpleasant without the animal connecting the unpleasantness with you, and they are harmless.

Our rescue just took in a dog that was left in the parking lot of a vet's office. I couldn't figure out if she is a Treeing Walker Coonhound or a Foxhound - so I searched the Internet, and this was the first site I came across. It was extremely helpful and I'm now more confident about calling her a Treeing Walker Coonhound instead of an English Foxhound, and being able to explain the difference (and lack of difference) to anyone who may ask. Thanks!

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Jess

02/19/2013 14:41

Hi Laurie, sounds a bit like what I went through. When I adopted my dog through a rescue group, they thought she was a Beagle/Treeing Walker Coonhound mix. I thought it was likely but some of my friends thought she was a Foxhound instead. I showed pics to others and they thought she was an English Foxhound. I doubted it because she doesn't seem to have the slightly heavier build of an English Foxhound. I had a DNA test done and it told me she was mostly Treeing Walker Coonhound and some Beagle as well. She has the treeing instinct big time and she has the thinner tail with absence of brush that coonhounds normally have. I guess my question is answered :) (though interestingly her ears don't seem to be quite as big as a TWC's - they look more like an American Foxhound's, though not sure if that's from the Beagle influence)

If there's Beagle mixed in, that could certainly account for the smaller ears. In any case, there's a fair amount of variation in ear size within TWCs.

Craig

02/22/2013 06:47

I have a dog that was sold to me as an American English Coonhound, who does in fact at first glance appear to be a S-380-013 (ticked tricolor), however, many have commented that she looks like a Treeing Walker, though she only has black on her face and tail. Her saddling is reddish brown and white, and her entire body is ticked red (even her belly).

Of course she has no AKC papers because she's five years old, and they only recognized them in the last two years.

All I know is that she's extremely good at treeing stuff, so I'm assuming they have a point and she might be part Walker.

Interesting (and very pretty) hound. You'd be safe calling her American English. In reality, there could be some Walker mixed in, but without a pedigree you won't know. Both are treeing hounds, so that's consistent in any case. I'd just stick to American English.

Some 5 yrs ago I found what I thought was a female tricolor saddleback TWH, but DNA said American Foxhound one side, otterhound both sides. Phenotype definitely Am Fox, 50 lbs, 27 hgt. Spends hours at our dog park treeing, 3 times a week. This treeing instinct (for squirrels) didn't show until she was @ 2 1/2 yrs, in the fall and surfaced almost overnight, as she tried desperately to jump at and climb the 7ft fence that separated the big dog section from the small dog section, as that section has more tall pine trees with nests. Since that time, I try to take her when no small dogs are using the small park, although she totally ignores any dog, so she can sniff and tree. We've been going to the same park for 5 yrs, and know most of the patrons, who can vouch for this behavior in my Marly Jean.

She also multi-tasks. While circling a tree (always to the right), she can chop-bark and relieve herself, all while holding a tennis ball. She is 6 yrs old and shows no signs of slowing down. I'm 72, have had many rescues , but this is my first hound - definitely a breed apart! I'm in eastern NC, where many hounds are abandoned - so sad,

Ronni
As we discuss elsewhere on this blog, most commercially available DNA analyses are not terribly accurate for coonhounds. Coonhounds usually show up as having foxhound DNA because they descend from the same ancestors. Your girl's behavior certainly makes her sound like a Treeing Walker!
Her multitasking certainly sounds impressive! We'd love to put a video of that on our YouTube channel if you have one. Send the link to info@coonhoundcompanions.com

English coonhounds have been registered by UKC far longer than by AKC, and most are still primarily registered by the United Kennel Club, which calls them just plain "English" See their discussion forum here:
http://forums.ukcdogs.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&forumid=49&x=11&y=12

The United English Breeders and Fanciers association puts out a great annual directory with interesting articles on the history of the breed. Yours looks all English to me. Many English look a lot more like Walkers than she does.

While treeing Walkers are the most popular coonhound breed, English hounds have their supporters and tree just as well as treeing Walkers--that's what they're bred to do.

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Taylor

03/05/2013 11:29

So there is a distinction between treeing walkerhounds and running walkerhounds? I've been doing research all day it appears the treeing is recognized but the running isn't. But I've seen some people's comments saying they have papers on their running walkerhounds. Also I noticed the color on running walkers are lighter and less than the treeing. Just curious I got a pup around 5 months ago the mother is definantly treeing walker but the father is almost all white except a tan spot on his left eye and a tan spot on his

I don't think the color differences of which you write are significant. Running Walkers are typically lighter of build, not of color, and are a bit more long-legged. The distinction can be very difficult to determine because there's a range in both cases, and I suspect they overlap.

Just to make things confusing, Running Walkers are considered foxhounds, while Treeing Walkers are coonhounds. No one told the hounds they were that distinct, though, and in fact they are very closely related. Here in Texas Running Walkers are considered coyote hounds, because that's what they're commonly used for.

My own Walker is a Running Walker, but he doesn't know what a coyote looks like. He's mostly acquainted with the backyard squirrels, and guarantees that they get their daily exercise.

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Taylor

03/08/2013 18:32

Thanxs Jerry!

Taylor

03/05/2013 11:31

On his flank and tail

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ctrmom2022

03/13/2013 13:34

We have a 7 month old TWH named annie and she is absolutely no doubt THE BEST doh we've ever owned. She loves our 13, 7, and 1 year old and watches them like a mother hen. She hardly bays excepy at 6 an when she has to go out she is 95% potty trained and we've only had her for about 2 months. She is an a amazing family member and I will never own anything But a walker ever again!

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amy mahoney

04/19/2013 23:50

well, maybe someone can clear up the mystery of my "princess" !!! she was born 12/10/12.. in york, sc, (where i live);; both of her eyes/color fur "round her eyes r black,, she has 1/2 black saddle; ++ a few blacks spots on her feet/leggs; she's kinda smart; (still tryin to get her to scratch @ the door where she needs 2 go potty.. :( ;; she can wiggle through a gated fence @ has a heck!! of a bray when vocolizing;; in u need/want pics;; call 803-415-9212;; amy

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amy mahoney

04/19/2013 23:52

we were told she was a texas walker hound when we got her;; not sure if that was true...

I have a Texas Walker Hound, but the only reason I can write that is that I live in Texas. It's not a breed. By breed, mine is a Running Walker Hound, which hound people in Texas talk about as if it's a breed, but in reality, it's a variation of American Foxhound, bred to hunt coyotes.

Amy
Feel free to send me pix of your hound [emily.plishner@verizon.net] and I'll do my best to hazrd a guess, but the differences are more behavioral than visual. There's no such thing as a "Texas Walker Hound," unless they meant she was a Walker from Texas, so whoever told you that didn't know too much. The original Walker family lived in the mid South. Both the "running" Walkers, which are foxhounds, and the "treeing" Walkers, which are coonhounds, came from the same original stock, so they look a lot alike.There is a huge gathering of treeing Walkers in Salisbury, NC every February called Southeastern Treeing Walker Days. You might want to look at some pictures from it online, or even go there one year if you have the time.
http://www.salisburypost.com/article/20130223/SP01/130229835/
http://www.ukcdogs.com/Web.nsf/News/SoutheasternTreeingWalkerDa02232013013647PM
and some great youtube videos as well

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Jess

04/20/2013 14:45

Got a question... I know the tricolor TWC's are the most common, but I barely ever see pics of bicolor TWC's. There are such things, aren't there? My dog is mostly TWC with some beagle mixed in, and she's tan & white (red & white?) with some red ticking on her legs and her body. She was described as "tricolor" when she was 8 wks old and first pulled out of the shelter. Now at 18 months she's got some very faint black markings in front of her ears and around her eyes, but it's not noticeable until you see her up close.

Jessica
It sounds like your dog is an English coonhound, rather than a treeing Walker. English coonhounds come in all the color patterns Walkers do, plus some that Walkers don't, like red ticked. Look here to see pix of English cooinhounds:
http://forums.ukcdogs.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=49
Also, send me a photo and I'll let you know what I think... info@coonhoundcompanions.com
There are some bi-colored treeing Walkers, but most of them are "high tans," black and tan, with more tan than Black and Tan coonhounds. There is a breed of French hound that entirely black and white and very handsome.:

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Jess

04/21/2013 08:13

Thanks for the info, Emily. I was wondering about English coonhounds. Looking at some pics, it looks more like Abby's color pattern. I had DNA testing done and it came back mostly Walker, but I've heard those tests aren't always accurate. I will send you a photo or two of her, will be interested to see what you think.

DNA testing of coonhounds and foxhounds is a bit suspect. All of them except the Plott Hounds are so closely related that it would take DNA analysis on a level that you likely can't afford to get a truly accurate splitting of the hairs. The DNA testing that's commonly available and that dog owners use is better for telling the difference between a mix derived from a Cocker Spaniel and a mix derived from a German Shepherd Dog.

Jessica
It sounds like your dog is an English coonhound, rather than a treeing Walker. English coonhounds come in all the color patterns Walkers do, plus some that Walkers don't, like red ticked. Look here to see pix of English cooinhounds:
http://forums.ukcdogs.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=49
Also, send me a photo and I'll let you know what I think... info@coonhoundcompanions.com
There are some bi-colored treeing Walkers, but most of them are "high tans," black and tan, with more tan than Black and Tan coonhounds. There is a breed of French hound that entirely black and white and very handsome.:

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Jess

05/07/2013 16:34

Hey Emily, was wondering if you ever got the email I sent you with the pix of my dog Abby? I sent it a couple weeks ago I think. If not let me know and I can resend it. :) Interestingly I've seen pix of her siblings when they were 8wks, one was tricolor and the rest were more like high tans. Abby looks like the only bicolor that's white with tan spots/ticking.

I guess I've dropped the ball here. I'm sorry. Try resending them. You can use either info@coonhoundcompanions.com or emily.plishner@verizon.net or both.
Sounds like the litter was either English or a mix of coonhound breeds.

Jessica
It sounds like your dog is an English coonhound, rather than a treeing Walker. English coonhounds come in all the color patterns Walkers do, plus some that Walkers don't, like red ticked. Look here to see pix of English cooinhounds:
http://forums.ukcdogs.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=49
Also, send me a photo and I'll let you know what I think... info@coonhoundcompanions.com
There are some bi-colored treeing Walkers, but most of them are "high tans," black and tan, with more tan than Black and Tan coonhounds. There is a breed of French hound that entirely black and white and very handsome.:

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Kate

05/05/2013 19:21

Thanks for the information!!! I've been trying to find everything I can to help decipher more about the dog we have (we're told he's a walker coonhound). He was found wandering around a campsite and was severely malnourished, no collar or chip when we got him. The vet said he was about 3 or 4. He's the tri-color dog you mention. Mostly white with a brown back and black patches... He has a slightly droopy mouth... He's HUGE.

Second are his tendencies... We can see the "hound" in him because he loves going for walks.. He goes on two long ones a day and pulls endlessly like he's hunting. He never barks (we've heard his bark once or twice at most) and he's not really playful, but he doesn't mind attention either. He's also not a big fan of food. He doesn't linger around the dinner table and doesn't really go nuts if bacon or anything's cooking. Even things we offer up to him, he'll either take it or leave it most of the time. I've never really known a dog like him.

He is honestly the biggest dog I've ever seen in my life, and I've always had bigger dogs. He does look like an oversized beagle, and then bigger than that. My dad, who is 5'11" can stand holding our dog's paws and his head comes up to my dads neck. His skull seems roughly double the size of an average human, but looks precisely like a beagle otherwise. Very long legs too, like a great dane, but looks nothing like that.

I'm just curious because we've had him (we call him Auggie) almost a year now and it's hard to find information on him when every photo I've seen all look a lot smaller than Auggie. Any help in figuring out exactly what breed of hound he is would be greatly appreciated

Kate
Auggie is probably a Treeing Walker coonhound, just a very big one. I met a well-known Walker named "Kong" awhile back who was probably 30 inches high at the shoulder and weighed about 130 lbs even though he was athletically thin. But he is an extreme case.
There is another breed of hound, the Majestic Hound, that is essentially a designer mutt, bloodhound X coonhound. I know Kong was bred to a majestic female and produced some very large pups. There is also a tri-colored French hound called a Grand Gasconthat is very large.
What poart of the country was the campsite where you found Auggie?
Send me pix of him at info@coonhoundcompanions.com and I'll let you know what I think.
Auggie's behavior is typical of a hunting hound that has been raised in a kennel and is not terribly familiar with the ways of houses. Most well-trained hunting hounds only bark on scent.

You can't be 100% sure if you don't know his background and/or have registration papers. In the coonhound world, hounds without papers are called "grade" dogs, no matter what they look like. However, if you would like me to take an educated guess, send pictures showing his entire body, and describe his voice and behavior, to info@coonhoundcompanions.com

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Joyce

05/11/2013 20:12

Hello , I am thinking of rescueing a TWC from a shelter because I hear they are so loving . I Want to know some opinions if she will get enough exercise to be happy if I put her and another dog out to play in a med. large ( about 1/2 acre ) yard to run around and the rest of the time she will be an inside dog ? I am not able to run or jog .

Coonhounds are indeed very loving. A very secure half acre yard with another playful dog should provide adequate exercise. Just be aware that coonhounds can be escape artists, so she will need to be supervised in the yard, at least for awhile, and any neighborhood cats maybe in trouble if they wander into your yard.. My first coonhound escaped many times from a yard that had been adequate to contain our previous dog, a Rhodesian ridgeback. I took nearly a year to fortify it completely, because he was constantly looking for weak spots where he could dig under, climb over, bend the gate, etc.

Not sure why you can't walk or jog. If you have a physical disability, be aware that coonhounds are very strong and very crafty about getting loose to hunt when they scent something they want to chase. They are not the easiest dogs to walk on a leash. I've gotten increasingly arthritic over the years I've had coonhounds and find that mine are both very strong, and have figured out how to jerk against the leash suddenly to yank it out of my hands. You can learn techniques to handle them on lead, but a Treeing Walker may not be the easiest choice for someone who prefers an easy handling dog at the end of the lead.

Also, be aware that coonhounds have been known to sing when they play with other dogs, and your neighbors may not appreciate houndsong. If you live in a neighborhood of half acre lots, there's an excellent chance you will have at least one neighbor who doesn't want to hear your hound playing. To avoid heartbreak, you may want to check your town's dog ordinances before bringing home a TWC. Hounds don't really make a lot of noise indoors, just outdoors, on scent and in play.

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Connie

05/17/2013 05:18

I have what I thought was a TWC, but now believe that she is a running walker coonhound (it really doesn't matter what she is...she is sweet and lovable and gets along great with my six other dogs). My question is, are the coonhounds known to be a "one owner" dog? Shiloh, will tolerate my husband at times (mainly at bedtime) otherwise he is not supposed to pet her, she is my dog and wants to be with me all the time. Can I get her to like my husband a little bit more? We have tried him feeding her and she won't eat the food that he puts out for her, but will take small table scraps from him.

Connie
Running Walkers are foxhounds, not coonhounds. Not much difference otherwise.
Hounds are not usually one person dogs, but it is not unheard of. Not sure where you are, but out West, where hounds are often used to hunt big game, like mountain lions, some hounds are taught to be "one man" dogs because big game dogs are valuable, hunt at a distance from their owners, and are sometimes stolen.
Craig's theory is also a possibility.
However, some hounds are really picky about who they will associate with, and aren't interested in people they don't respect. Oddly enough, most of them prefer to be handled with no-nonsense authority. One thing that may help is for your husband to go through a basic obedience course with Shiloh, not because she needs obedience lessons (although she may!), but because a dog trainer can observe your husband's interactions with her and will notice the subtle body language signals he is sending. After they have gone through such a course together, he will need to give her arbitrary commands intermittently (SIT, DOWN), nothing complicated, just to keep her being eager to please.
If she might have had a past as a hunting dog, he could try playing scent games with her to her her respect. See here for some suggestions.
http://www.suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/scent-games-educating-your-dogs-nose.
Make sure your husband is extra careful around food with her. In the canine world, taking food from a higher ranking dog is a no no. I wouldn't let him offer her table scraps until she is more respectful of him.If she shows any symptoms of growling at him when he goes near her food bowl, you will need to do some more serious retraining as soon as possible.

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Craig

05/17/2013 05:23

Connie, is your dog a rescue? It's possible that she was treated poorly by a male in the past. They're smart though and will recognize a caring person over time. Adopted a cat a couple years ago whose owner developed an allergy to it. It also didn't like men. It only took about a year for him to decide he loved me, and now he's my feline buddy, though I also am allergic...

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maddie johnson

06/29/2013 14:17

i had a leporad coonhound named copper probaly best dog ever besides our boxers we rescued him from being shot from his owner after getting kicked by a wild boar while hunting making him permantly lame and mentaly a little whacky we soon had to put him down a few years after trying to bite my sister but he always made me laugh and he used to walk my older brother to the bus everymornig and fend off the hogs that would stock my siblings and i while we waited for the but he was an amazing dog and best friend to every one including my brother

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Hanna

07/05/2013 06:54

Thank you so much for this post, Emily! I work at a large open-intake, no-kill, animal shelter in Central Texas and the information you provided will be so helpful when trying to identify and explain different physical and behavioral traits of so many of the dogs we get in. We've gone through training for identifying bully breed characteristics, but hound mixes are very prolific in this area, too, so this is invaluable info!

We get in a lot of dogs that look like harrier or foxhound mixes and they usually get classified as harriers (sometimes pointers). Do you think that the harrier is more commonly found in shelters than foxhounds, or about the same? Is the differentiation between the two breeds mostly just in size?

Thank you for your comments, Hanna. I am a member of the Coonhound and Foxhound Companions core team, and am also in Central Texas. I am happy to help you with your hounds, so please contact me directly at jdunham@texas.net.

In response to your Harrier question, Harriers are extremely rare in shelters. I've been doing rescue in Texas since 1999, and I've only encountered two. It's just not a common breed. You could be looking at a very small foxhound or coonhound, or it could be a mix of Beagle and one of the larger hound breeds.

Bear also in mind that mixing two breeds does not always result in offspring that look 50/50. Some members of the litter may look 90% like one parent. As a result, you might get a mix of coonhound and some other breed that looks an awful lot like a coonhound except for one characteristic, such as size or ear length. With shelter dogs there's seldom anything resembling certainty, so we just have to do the best we can. If it looks like X and acts like X, as far as the adopter is concerned, it's X.

Jerry is very knowledgeable about your local hound supply. Foxhounds are way more common than harriers in this country, but most foxhounds are not the fancy ones that belong to mounted foxhunts or show in the AKC. Most foxhounds in this country are used for coyote hunting and have to be pretty gritty on game, although they are very sweet with people. Down your way, hounds and hound mixes (usually with a bully breed) are also used for hog hunting, which is quite dangerous. The dogs are usually outfitted with vests to protect them when hunting hogs. Hunters tend to care more about performance than papers, so they breed the best performers to the best performers, and whatever they look like is ok.
There are two very beautiful hounds doing well on the AKC show circuit at the moment, a Foxhound female, call name "Jewel," and a Harrier male, call name "Chet," so either or both may increase in popularity.
The head shape on a harrier is more like a beagle head shape than a foxhound head shape, which is narrower. Nonetheless, there is a range of individuals, and that is not definitive. Foxhounds are rarely as small as a harrier, but it does happen. And a fair number of small coonhounds are as small as harriers. Some coonhounds, especially females, are as small as 35 lbs--not much bigger than a beagle, although the ears are usually longer and the voice deeper. That makes puppies particularly hard to identify. And a bigger than standard beagle is fully as big as a harrier. And there are a lot more beagles around than harriers! Most people that have harriers have gone way out of their way to get one and their dogs are not likely to end up in a shelter.
You are more than welcome to send me pix of the hounds you take in and I would be glad to give my opinion on breed ID, but it is very hard to be sure what you are dealing with when the background is unknown, especially without hearing that hound voice, handling the dog, and observing its behavior.

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Hanna

07/11/2013 10:41

Thank you so much for your responses and offers to help identify our hounds!

Jen Slater

07/09/2013 04:04

Thank you for the information. Is there any difference in the genetics of a Running Walker vs. a Treeing Walker? I have 2 adopted dogs from the south that I had DNA tested. One of my dogs came back as American Foxhound on both sides. When I run into people that know hounds, they call him a Walker hound. My other dog's DNA came back as Treeing Walker Coonhound with some Boxer and English Spring Spaniel mixed in. I'm just curious as to how the DNA test distinguished between the 2 breeds. Why was one determined to be an American Foxhound and the other a Treeing Walker Coonhound? Do you have any experience with this? Thanks again for the very informative write up!

I don't know who did your DNA testing, but it's my understanding that the common "consumer" tests are not as definitive as the really expensive ones. I've done neither, so am not an authority, but I know enough about DNA and about hound ancestry to claim that they're splitting hairs between TWCs and AmFoxes. The two lines are not identical, but they have a lot of common ancestry.

Note that hounds with the "Walker" name are descended from the breeding work of the Walker family of Kentucky, and that name is applied to Treeing Walkers (which are considered coonhounds), Running Walkers (which are functionally coyote hounds, but are still considered in the AmFox family), and Walker Foxhounds, which are a strain of AmFox used primarily for hunting fox. To some extent, hunters define a Walker as a Treeing Walker (or not) based upon its ability to tree climbing game, regardless of ancestry. Breeders today will mix Treeing and Running Walkers if they think the match might produce a better dog for hunting whatever they're hunting. Given all that, how can DNA testing make a clear distinction?

By contrast, picking out evidence of Boxer or spaniel should be a piece of cake. Those lines have been separate from the hunting hounds for a long time.

I hope this helps.

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Jennifer Slater

07/10/2013 06:56

Thanks for the info Jerry. I am a novice hound owner and am trying to learn as much as I can about my dogs backgrounds. I used Wisdom Panel, the standard consumer test, on both. From your reply, I'm more intrigued as to how they are able to distinguish between the 2 breeds. Do they have distinct markers of each that they are able to compare results to? I would be interested to know if others have also used their test kit. Thanks again.

Jen Slater

07/11/2013 05:56

Ok, DNA testing aside, I love my foxhound and coonhound mix and am trying to educate myself about the history of the breed(s), instincts, habits, exercise needs, feed, everything from a to z. I had the opportunity to attend the Bryn Mawr hound show in May and found it absolutely fascinating. Most working breeds of Foxhounds, Bassets, and Beagles were represented. Handlers wore fox hunt attire and white lab coats. Hunts from the Carolinas to MA were represented. Loved seeing the packs of different dogs from the very large English Foxhounds to the smallest of Beagles, both in their kennels and out working as a pack. Was also interesting to see the working Basset hounds which look so different than the AKC show variety of Bassets. Really enjoyed it.

Given your level of interest, I'd like to make a couple of suggestions.

First, join the Yahoo! group CoonhoundFanciers. The membership ranges from complete newbies to those who have owned coonhounds for decades, many of them show people or hunters. There are some very knowledgeable people there, and they like to answer questions from newbies. At times the group is very active, and at times it goes dormant for awhile (now being one of those times), but it always comes back. Coonhound Companions was founded by five of us from CoonhoundFanciers. To join, search for CoonhoundFanciers on Yahoo! Groups.

You might also be interested in joining the Coonhound Companions extended team, which consists of a mailing list that allows members to keep up with what Coondhound Companions is up to, and if you see a project you'd like to participate in you'll be welcome to join it. To join the extended team, write me at jdunham@texas.net.

Thank you for your interest in the hounds.

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Jen Slater

07/11/2013 16:25

Will do! Thank you!

Jen Slater

07/11/2013 16:30

Could you provide the link to the yahoo group? I couldn't locate it by searching under groups. Thank you!

Jen
You might also be interested in attending a UKC coonhound event. These are very different from AKC events--very casual. Show dogs pee on the benches. Field trials and water races and occasional "barking contests" (most barks per minute for a treed hound). Kids running every which way handling dogs twice their size. Field trial dogs leaving the course to find their own coon. Hot dogs and hamburgers and raffles. People selling puppies. Nite hunters stumbling around in the dark chasing dogs chasing coons. Very family friendly--no alcohol or firearms allowed, no animals harmed. Events are listed here:
http://www.ukcdogs.com/Upcoming.nsf/EventView?Open&Group=Coonhound&Type=M
You and your hound will be welcome, although paperless dogs generally can't enter the events. Everything is free except for dog entries in events and purchases from the kitchen. Times listed are entry deadlines. If you want to spectate on a nite hunt, bring a flashlight and wear long pants and sleeves to protect yourself from briars, sneakers or hiking boots or waterproof boots suitable for crossing swamps.Ask the master of hounds to find you a cast to go with.

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Craig

07/12/2013 09:03

I can understand the "no alcohol/firearms" but not the "no firearms". I and many other law abiding Americans simply don't go anywhere without our firearms, and any sign advertising such is met by a turned back.

Craig--I can't speak for UKC on their policy, but most UKC attendees are dedicated hunters and agree with you as a matter of principle. However, many states allow kill-less events organized by kennel clubs out of season, and their state fish and game agencies don't want people carrying at night away from regulatory authorities while "hunting" in no-kill events.
Also, these are competitive events, and occasionally the arguments get heated. These events are about the dogs, not the harvest. The "no firearms" policy makes everyone comfortable going out in the woods at night with strangers and their dogs. I can't say its strictly enforced--I've seen plenty of (unloaded) firearms for sale or raffled off at small UKC events, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if those with concealed carry permits (or not, in states where that is universally allowed) are occasionally packing.
The main thing is that drawing a firearm on a competitor or killing the treed quarry would disqualify your dog, if not get you jailed under state or local law.
If you were to get in a predicament--say encountering a meth lab in the woods (rare, but possible!)--and drew your concealed pistol in self defense, no one would hold that against you. But UKC doesn't want competitors to violate state laws by being tempted to shoot a bear or even a coyote to defend your dog, let alone the reckless driver who just ran your dog over.
Most of the time, nite hunts aren't very dangerous--the worst that ever happened to me on a competition hunt was falling in a chicken manure pile on a farm. (my hound was on lead and pulled me over a ledge) I have encountered coyotes on nite hunts, but usually light will drive them off. Bears usually climb trees and remain aloof. Half the fun is getting into ridiculous predicaments and figuring out how to deal with them.

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Gina

09/29/2013 09:49

Enjoyed the info! Last spring I adopted a puppy that is supposed to be a beagle/coonhound mix. He was in OK and brought to CO by a rescue. His face looks beagle and his body (&size) looks like a B/W Treeing Walker Coonhound. But his fur is not smooth-coated and his tail curls more than the coonhounds pictured here. And I haven't heard him bay once - I was hoping for a sweet bayer to go along with my other beagles. He is definitely a counter-surfer when I'm not looking and it looks like he's just starting to follow his nose more. He's beautiful and sweet and I can't wait till he's past the chewing everything in sight stage!

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lisette osborne

10/05/2013 13:41

Someone mentioned ticking - the emergence of spots on a TWC. my dog now has so many spots barely visible under her white hair she almost looks like a dalmation. Has anyone else seen this in their TWC ? the older she gets the more spots appear

Gina
A curly tail is unimportant. Many coonhounds have curved tails. One of mine has almost a full circle to is back and is always getting caught on hotwires as he goes under farm fences.
Hounds have a "hunting switch" that often comes on suddenly. When your hound reaches an age where he is interested in game, he will probably use his voice more.

Lisette
Most times, coonhound "spots" or "ticks" are on both the skin and the fur. Puppies often are born with more white fur and don't develop "ticked" fur until a couple of weeks old. Sometimes hounds with large white areas have pink skin in most places, with spots of a darker color. These may not be visible in winter or when the dog is young and healthy, but begin to show through when the dog's coat is thinner. A lot of ticking is undesirable in a show Walker, but is perfectly acceptable in a show English hound, so your hound may be English rather than Walker. I know one English hound of well-known lineage who could easily be mistaken for a Dalmatian mix. However, plenty of Walkers do have a fair amount of ticking, and nobody much cares so long as the dog can tree a coon. It is not unusual for a hound's fur pattern to evolve over time. You don't usually get radical changes, but more ticking, or more tan trim around the face, or black trim on a redbone, are not uncommon as the dog ages. And most fade to grey or white as they get really old...

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Daniel

11/28/2013 16:09

Thank you for this! I found your site after seeing the American foxhound won the national dog show. I didn't know the breed of the winner and thought it was my dog. After reading your post, I now understand the difference, but not sure if my dog is a running or a treeing coonhound. She puts her paws on tree trunks, throws her head back and bays her head off, but she is lean and fast...not sure now!

Given that they have the same ancestry, there's considerable overlap between the two. Send me pix [emily.plishner@gmail.com]and tell me how she came to you and I'll hazard a guess, but it is almost impossible to tell, for sure even if you take the dog out hunting and know what to look for. The important thing is that she has a good home and you enjoy her...
esp

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Jen

11/29/2013 06:08

I enjoyed watching the national dog show yesterday. It was great to see a hound win best in show. Jewel is an American foxhound, but is she a walker strain of American foxhound? Is she a running walker hound?

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Kate Woodward

11/29/2013 17:47

I live in the mountains of NC and it is the perfect world for my 3 walkers since they have 13,000 acres of National Forest to run on besides my own farm. But I am posting this for the folks who have walkers that need more exercise. A dear friend fell in love with my dogs and went to the shelter and rescued one. She is so in love with her girl but the dog is way to much for her to handle at 70yrs old. What we have done is trained her to use a tread mill for an hour every morning and every night. She is a new dog, this burns her excess steam and she is now the perfect 60lb lap dog. The other thing I would like to pass on is an online service called Lostdoggie.com. One of my walkers did not come home this fall. I did not start to stress until about day 3 but then I was in total melt down because it was just not like this dog to be gone for so long. I found this service online and for about 100.00$ they fax blasted all the vet offices and shelters in the radius that I choose. They also made robo calls in a 50 mile radius to local homes. I had my 1st call 20 min. after I signed up for this service. All and all had a total of 28 calls, some were folks offering support and willing to help me walk the woods to look for her and some were from folks that had seen her and gave me the last sighting of her. She was recovered from some sheepish campers that she had stumbled upon (they thought she was dumped in the woods) so they had kept her tied up with them for several days and instead of calling the name on the collar took her to town and dumped her with a local vet who was smart enough to call the name on her collar and had also seen the fax blast. Walkers are really smart and I have never had one "get lost" This breed is the most loving,loyal breed that I have ever owned. Just like people they can have very different personalities but I can assure you if you ever let one into your home and heart you will have no other. As I write this I have a bed full of walkers and an old Black and Tan hanging out with me.

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Jen

11/30/2013 05:34

I have my hounds fitted with the Tagg GPS tracking system. Each collar is about $80 but it's just $7.95 per month for the first dog and less than a dollar for each additional dog. It really helps to give me peace of mind if they would get off the leash.

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Daniel

11/30/2013 06:07

I was working in the front yard yesterday, and I let Naomi out in the backyard to enjoy the pretty day while I was blowing leaves. After a few minutes, I noticed her in the neighbors from yard. My little Houdini pulled not one, but 3 jailbreaks yesterday. Luckily she was just curious and came right back every time.

Kathy Leighton

03/28/2014 13:28

I am completely in love with my TWC Winston but at times , I feel he is more of a hostage than pet! He is microchipped , has ID tags hanging from two collars and has the Tagg GPS system. We live in Virginia on a riverbank and it's hound heaven. Winston will not respond once he escapes the confines of the two acre fence. It's complete frantic bedlam !!! This tracking system gives me peace of mind. It has a smart phone app which sends alerts if he escapes and it tells you their location.

Mari

12/04/2013 16:39

I have a dog, her mom was pure TWC and her dad was pure Bluetick. Her name is Theia and this is her http://www.flickr.com/photos/39637582@N06/8768711444/ (i hope the link works!). We don't hunt but we live on a big acreage and she LOVES chasing and treeing anything that moves (except the cats, she learned real fast that the cats rule our land!). She's super lean though, if i didn't know her parents i would have assumed she was a running hound.

Anyways, my question is this. Thea has a glass eye, or crystal eye, or whatever you want to call it. This is her from the front (when she was about 8 months old) http://www.flickr.com/photos/39637582@N06/8892313020/

I've been trying to figure out for nearly a year now where the gene that gave her the eye comes from. Do you have any ideas???

Either way, Theia is by far the best dog ever, such a sweet heart, listens like a dream, perfect with the kids, easily trained. My only complaint is how much of a bed hog she is, lol

Thea has a very unusual look! I would have taken her for an American Leopard Hound, aka leopard cur, if you hadn't told me her background. Both leopard hounds and bluetick/.Walker crosses produce glass eyes fairly regularly. Not sure of the genetics of it..

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Erin

12/12/2013 11:37

We have a male 1.5 year old male treeing walker. This is our second treeing walker--such a neat breed! Does anyone know if there are any kind of treeing walker gatherings that occur around Maryland? Would love to take my dog to meet with other walkers.

Erin
There are plenty of treeing Walkers in Maryland. Not sure where you are in the state, but there are several hunting clubs that would welcome you at their shows, and there's even a rescue group that has placed several Walkers in Washington D.C. The hunting club schedule doesn't really get active until springtime, but there are listings for the current and uppcoming events here:http://www.ukcdogs.com/Upcoming.nsf/EventView?Open&Group=Coonhound&Type=M
The events are free, except for entry fees for the dogs. Only dogs with papers get to participate in the events, but a lot of clubs have practice sessions and your dog will be welcome on leash. You may get some ribbing from the good ole boys if you don't hunt, but it take them long to show me how much fun it is to run around in the woods at night chasing dogs chasing coons. Most coon hunters are born storytellers and know how to laugh at themselves--you can get into some crazy predicaments following a dog following its nose.
If you're just looking for pet Walkers to play with, go to our facebook page and ask, or you can try the coonhoundfanciers group on Yahoo.

This breed of dog is for hunting. They make excellent hounds and contrary to the opinions on this page, stated as facts, they do howl at sirens and other things. Dogs howl or bark at sirens because they hurt their ears and all breeds do this. I am an ole Tn boy who has hunted all his life with all types of hounds and i know what i'm talking about on this matter.

Hey Kenny. There's no doubt that hounds are for hunting. I didn't take up hunting until after I got my first hound, but my hounds hunt both coon and bear (and the occasional trash). I learned how to hunt because my first hound insisted, but he was a coondog and not all of them are. However, there are lots of culls that end up in shelters, and most of them make really good pets for the right person, just like beagles do. I can assure you that I've had four redbones in Brooklyn NY for at least part of the week and none of them howled at sirens. In fact they don't open unless they're on scent, or they hear me coming or going. I have taught them to bay on command for city folk, but that's just a trick.

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Jake Peters

02/23/2014 21:12

My wife and I have a 17 month old walker.. best dog we have ever seen.. not like anything I have read on this site... He loves to run... And can keep up with the horses at a full out run... He does have one hell of a nose for scent... I'll try to post a current picture of him...

Jake
Not sure how your hound is different from the ones you've read about here, but you are more than welcome to elaborate on that. I don't think this blog will accept pix except if the admin people post them elsewhere on the site, but you can post pix on our Facebook page.
Several years ago, I took my hounds to a coonhound event in Charleston NY. That club was next door to a horse farm where a number of contenders at Saratoga racetrack were kept, mostly in outdoor fields. One of my redbones left the field trial to join some racehorses galloping around a field and had no trouble keeping up. Everyone was afraid he would get trampled, but he just hung out with them for awhile, then returned to me.
I have clocked mine running 25 mph for over an hour down back roads when we were out "roading" for exercise. Coonhounds that hunt big game out west can keep up a terrific pace for days in very steep territory. Mine love nothing better to run. In fact, my smaller dog's largest fault as a hunting dog isthat he loves running so much that, after a long drive to hunt at a competition event, his first instinct when let off lead is to run as hard as he can before settling down to hunt. At home, where we are in the mountains, its not so bad, but turn him loose in a field in Ohio or Indiana and he takes off in random directions down those flat section lines just to stretch his legs..

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Gene Still

02/24/2014 12:03

I have what I believe you would call a RWH/Plott hound mix. He is a 45-pound runt of the litter, and he came to us lame. He broke an elbow that was allowed to fuse badly. But still, when he gets loose, he runs like the wind for hours. I have no doubt that he'd stay with your pup step-for-step. We live in Oregon, where we have miles of beach for him to run on (legally), but I'm afraid to let him loose. (We also have millions of acres of forest, but without GPS, I'm pretty sure we'd lose him out there. We don't hunt.) I wish I could afford to chain-link fence our place!

Gene
Most coonhounds want to come home to the place that feeds them, and have the scent ability to retrace their steps. While GPS systems can be very expensive, the previous generation radio collars work even better, although they take some experience to learn to operate reliably. Used versions are available from collarclinic.com, and might be worth the ivestment for you. I have no compunctions about letting my hounds run loose with radio collars to help e find them. Get yourself one of these, work on recall, and you should be fine in the wilds.If you need some help learning how to use it, email me a emily.plishner@gmail.com and I'll try to introduce you to sympathetic hound handlers in your area. Do bear in mind that he may try to hunt mountain lions, bears, or other big game if he gets a whiff. You should be able to tell by the level of excitement in his voice and may have to intervene--hounds are not allowed on moutain lions in oregon.
Walker X Plott sounds like it might actually be purebred cur. Send e some pix and I'll offer my opinion.

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Jess

03/13/2014 11:45

Speaking of DNA tests and the fact that they aren't very accurate for coonhounds... I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but when I had it done for Abby (she is the dog that looks like an English Coonhound from her pix, bicolor white/tan with the red ticking) it came back half Treeing Walker Coonhound, 1/4 Beagle and 1/4 Greyhound. The Greyhound part seemed a bit far-fetched to me because she doesn't seem to have any of the physical characteristics. As far as the Beagle, I could maybe buy that she has some mixed in as she's a bit on the small side - about 20 inches tall - but even there she doesn't seem to really have the characteristics physically.

As Emily indicated, you need to take these DNA test with a grain of salt, particularly in the case of scenthounds. The relatively inexpensive tests pet owners use try to sound like they are authoritative, but they're really not. Their hound databases are still too small, and the scenthounds are all too closely related. The results may be fun, but don't bet the farm on them.

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Jess

03/13/2014 13:57

Yeah, I am taking them with a huge chunk of salt. She certainly has the appearance of a coonhound as well as the behavioral characteristics. Speaking of which, is this a coonhound thing? Whenever I bring the mail inside, Abby is all over it, sniffing it up and down as if she has to "inspect" it (she goes berserk when the mailman comes and then barks at me to go out and get the mail). She also sniffs us all up and down whenever we come back from being out somewhere. I had a beagle before her who didn't really do this at all.

Chances are good that your mailman, like many others, keeps some dog biscuits in the bag with the mail. That would be enough reason to make any coonhound sniff all the mail. Nonetheless, even the possibility that some of those letters have been in houses with other cats and dogs is enough to get a coonhound to check them out. And letters that have been handled by half a dozen different people en route tell a story to a hound.
Coonhounds are generally interested in scents, and they can "read" where you've been while separated from you by giving you a good sniff. Mine invariably give me dirty looks if I've been handling other dogs while away from them, and can get very excited if they get a whiff of a dog they know. When I lived in a second floor apartment in Brooklyn with my hounds, I could tell by the way my hounds sniffed the front steps whether my husband had recently gone in or out, and which direction. They would also tell me which stores he went into while he was out. Its hard to keep a secret around a coonhound!

I have no words to express how useful your blog was to me in completing my job work successful. Thanks a lot.

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Jessica

05/29/2014 09:01

Do coonhounds have a tendency to be "hands on"? My Abby who is believed to be an English (redtick) Coonhound does this thing where I'll be sitting reading or on the computer, and to get my attention she'll tap/nudge me on the arm or leg. I was wondering if it was a coonhound thing.

Some hounds are more "hands on" than others. I have two, and one will swat me for attention all the time, the other wouldn't think of it, unless he's having a gastric emergency or really needs my help for something urgent..
If this is getting out of hand, keep a squirt bottle handy for mild reprimands, and avoid falling for the demand for attention--squirt, then turn your back for a minute or two.Repeat until she stops demanding attention.

Some hounds have bolder personalities than others, but some are just born with timid personalities. Most are naturally inclined to be gregarious, but they are all individuals. A hound that was not socialized well when a small pup, will remain timid with strangers. A good breeder will expose the pup to lots of strangers, especially kids, while still very young.
Of course some hounds are disciplined harshly and/or hypersensitive and become timid of certain kinds of people. I know one hound owner that used to swat his dog with his baseball cap for discipline. It wasn't terribly harsh, but it made the hound suspicious of anyone wearing a ball cap. Hounds aren't stupid!

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Craig

05/29/2014 09:36

Not so sure if is a coonhound thing, but ours does something similar, especially since we taught her to "shake". If you're fiddling with your phone or tablet or whatever, and she wants attention, she will swat you with her paw. Now, this wouldn't be so bad if coonhounds didn't grow nails like raptor talons.

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Jessica

05/29/2014 09:50

That's exactly what Abby does. And I agree, those nails are crazy. I notice they seem to grow fast. My last dog was a beagle and hers weren't like that.

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Daniel

05/29/2014 10:19

Yeah, my girl likes to put her paws on your leg if she needs attention, especially if you are sitting in a bar stool height chair. I had to teach her "down" pretty early on. And yes, her raptor talons grow quickly. I've been taking her on long walks around my neighborhood on the asphalt, so I hope that will slow the growth. On a different topic, does anyone have a coonhound who is terrified of people? Mine is scared of new people and loud noises. She is almost 2. If so, how did you treat the fears?

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Jessica

05/29/2014 10:33

Yeah, Abby still jumps up on me sometimes when she wants to play or go for a walk, but she doesn't do it as often as she used to (she's 2 and a half so not sure if maturing a little has to do with it). She gets pretty timid of new people, especially when she first meets them. Sudden, loud noises make her skittish too. I have read that coonhounds can be sensitive, so not sure if that has to do with it. I use a thunder shirt with her. It seems to calm her, though I know not everyone has success with it. I've read that trying to soothe them is counter-productive because it lets them think it's okay to be scared, Mommy/Daddy will comfort them. I read it's good to keep exposing them to these uncomfortable situations more and more so they get used to it. Not totally sure though.

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Daniel

05/29/2014 10:58

Thank you, Jessica, that makes me feel better. She has gotten better about her fear of cars, but she is still hugely distrustful of new people. She will warm up, but it takes a long time, and guests in my house are instructed to completely ignore her until she approaches on her own time. It so sad because she is such a lover (rolls over so I can pet her belly, greets my mom with more excitement than me, etc).

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Jessica

05/29/2014 11:41

Anytime, Daniel. Glad I could help. Do you know anything about her history? I once took Abby to a dog park and we met a Treeing Walker Coonhound there that also seemed a bit shy of new people. Her mom told me that she seems to fear men a lot, so she thinks the dog had a bad experience with them in the past. It's sad. Abby & her litter mates were pulled from a kill shelter by a rescue when they were 8 weeks old, so I really don't know about her history except she'd been in foster homes until I adopted her at 5 months old. Funny, she seems to be more timid of new people when she meets them on walks, but when they visit at the house she is a little more outgoing.

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Daniel

05/29/2014 16:20

Jessica, I really don't know much about her history other than what I learned from the rescue. Apparently, her and her 3 sisters were picked up by a Good Samaritan at the end of a dirt road. The conventional wisdom is that her breeders did not want the females of the litter. She was about 3 months when I adopted her and she had not had any time to be socialized with her mom. I am told that that is crucial to the puppy developing crisis management and conflict resolution skills... I don't know. I took her for a walk today and she was calm when a car drove by, but when another came by and ground its gears, she yanked the leash out of my hand. She is a bit of a puzzle still. I think she is very bright. I take her to daycare sometimes, and I have heard she does well with other dogs. I have thought about enlisting the help of a canine behavior specialist, but the cost is high! Any ideas?

Daniel
While the upfront costs of a canine behaviorist are high, the time and mistakes a good one will save you from are pretty worthwhile. Ask for a consultation to get you started.
What a good behaviorist will probably recommend is a program of desensitivation to the scary stimulus. This is time consuming and requires a lot of patience. Given the nature of the stimulus, you will need help from friends with a variety of vehicles. You should start with quiet engines and slow moving vehicles at a distance she will tolerate, and reward her with attention, pets, food, or whatever motivates her--while the vehicle is passing. First get closer (within a reasonable margin of safety); then go to a louder vehicle, or more traffic. Any time she seems unhappy, go back down a notch or two.
Or, you could start with your own vehicle, which she probably associates with you and already likes. Start getting your friends to drop you off at home with a variety of vehicles, all making different noises, but all delivering YOU and your attention. Then start inviting them over in ones,twos and threes, all with their own vehicles making loud noises, squealing brakes, etc. Make sure everyone is carrying treats and associated with petting and other good stuff--maybe even a doggie friend.
After several months of systematically escalating, you should be able to walk her comfortably on lead in a hgihway rest stop "dog walk" area. Don't overdo it. Several short sessions a week will probably be all she can handle.

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Daniel

05/30/2014 14:14

Thank you for all of the tips! I have been exposing her to people and her scary situations. She is improving some. For example, the AC unit outside my porch just clicked on and she didn't even jump. When I first moved in, that was enough to warrant hiding in the corner! Unfortunately, I don't have that many friends with cars that make a variety of sounds, so I take her on long walks around the neighborhood. Cars haven't been a big problem for her lately...except if the driver doesn't know how to drive a stick! She used to tuck her tail and pull away from the car. Now she might regard the car, but she carries on. Thanks again for your advice, and here's to hoping for more improvement as time goes on! This is obviously a great excuse to have a party with 3-4 friends. "Come over to my house, drink some beer and watch a game. Except you have to hold a dog treat the entire time and you can't acknowledge my dog". Hahah!

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Deborah Crabtree

05/29/2014 17:47

Today my family adopted what the shelter thinks is a Treeing Walking Hound - a female, very very sweet and affectionate. We took our 13 year old jack russell to the shelter to meet her and they got along famously. Now at home, our JRT is being territorial and snappy. Annie snapped back and they got into somewhat of a tiff. Any advise?

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Iowa Prepper

05/29/2014 18:42

Let them work it out. Might take a few days. As long as no vicious bloodshed occurs they will establish a pecking order.

BTW, I have a year old TWC male named Boo who I am trying to find a home for. We rescued him and his brother off the road last summer. He needs a place to run and kids to play with. We are in southeast Iowa if anyone is interested. Iowaprepper@gmail.com

They will work it out eventually, although there may be one somewhat nasty incident before they do. In the meantime, don't feed them together or off high value treats (bones, or anything else that lasts awhile) until they decide who is dominant. When they are home talone ogether, try to keep a door between them, and let them sniff each other for awhile before leaving them together unsupervised. When you are home, leave a leash on each for getting an easy handle if they need to be separated.
The old terrier is both smaller and less agile than the young hound, but will probably end up dominant. Nonetheless, he may latch onto a dangling long ear or some other vulnerable part to drive the point home. Given the respective personalities of the two breeds, the hound is likely to 'face bark" the terrier. This is something another hound would take in stride, but a terrier is likely to take umbrage at. Whichever dog they decide is dominant, don't interfere to level the playing field, only to prevent injury. Once they've made the decision, make sure you respect it, even if the younger dog proves dominant. That means the dominant dog gets fed first, gets to go through doors first, etc. But you also need them to know that YOU and the other humans are more important than any dog member of the family. Sometimes, taking the new furry member of the family to a basic obedience course can help remind the humans how to send the right cues.

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Gene Still

05/31/2014 11:58

Hi, Emily
I commented last February I believe, and you were most helpful. We have the usual unruly TWC, Chester. UPDATE: He spends quite a bit of time indoors and outdoors on a zip line with lots of room to run. He gets loose about once a week, but stays on our property.
I've been installing an invisible fence that is not functioning yet. It contains about 5 acres, and I've been leisurely chasing a break
Meanwhile, I purchased a shock collar with hand-held remote. I was at my wit's end with Chester not only failing to come when called, but actually running as far away as possible--frequently at late evening when it's time to come in. For much of the year, that means cold and raining, too. I frankly thought he would not respond to it, but wanted to try it, as I thought it might be a good "warm-up" to the electric fence.
First time out, he rejected my call, as usual, so I "zapped" him with a one-second collar VIBRATE. He ignored that. I used VIBRATE once more, then the lowest-level SHOCK, after which, lo and behold, he came running
Second time out and he came running after the first "vibrate" command. He has been the perfectly obedient pup ever since. In fact, I put the collar on him only 4-5 times more, before I realized I wouldn't need it at all.
I hope that success translates to the "vibrate" command on the fence. If it does, we're golden!
...Now if I can just get him not to demand to go out at 3am (when I have to walk him out to the zipline)!

Gene
Glad I was of some help. Almost all hunters use shock collars because they do work well and pretty easily, and its about the only way to stop a coonhound in his tracks if he's about to run out into traffic.
As for not waking you up at 3 a:m. --just ignore him when he asks to go out at an inappropriate hour. Since you've lethim get away with it for awhile, it will take longer to stop, but if he's sure you aren't going to get out of bed to put him out, he'll eventually stop asking except in real emergencies. You just have to be consistent, and be prepared to spend a few sleepless nights to get past that initial period when he still thinks he can talk you into it. Putting him in a crate in another room at night may speed things up and save you a few noisy sessions...

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Jessica

06/05/2014 07:39

Wondered if I could get some advice. It looks like I will be adopting another dog, another rescue who seems to be a TWC/beagle mix (she's 2-3 yrs old and looks very much like a TWC but is quite small, like 30lbs or so... rescue believes she may have quite a bit of beagle in her, and for comparison my small coonhound Abby is about 45-48 lbs). They will be coming a long way to transport the dog, so we really can't do a meeting beforehand to see how she will interact with my dog. I am hoping they will get along. Abby is quite easy-going and seems to really like other dogs. She takes well to beagles and other smaller dogs, and even some that are her size or a little bigger. The new dog had been abandoned and has spent most of her time in a boarding facility. The rescue group told me she gets along very well with other dogs, is very playful and even likes to play with the bigger dogs they have rescued. I will be watching them very closely for a while but just hoping there won't be any issues over food, bones, toys. I also don't want Abby to become jealous. She's been an only dog for 2 and a half years, though I think she would really like the companionship.

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Craig

06/05/2014 10:48

Dogs usually work these things out pretty quickly. Just last weekend Chloe decided she was going to show my up-north neighbor's GSP who was boss. That took all of about 10-seconds before she realized Tag was not only 1.5X her size but wasn't taking any s**t from her. :) She got owned.

Jessica
This sounds like it will be just fine. However, as a general rule, its best to introduce dogs on neutral territory. If you can get a friend or faily member to take Abby to the dog park and introduce them there, tit will be less tense than at home. For the first few days, feed them separeately--at least six feet apart, or each in their own crate if there's any growling. There may be one incident when they try to work out who is bosws. Don't intervene unless it looks like they're about to draw blood. Once they've decided who is dominant,do your best to honor their point of view even if it doesn't seem "fair" from a human perspective. My tow, who get along famously for the most part, have never learned to share bones. The dominant fellow insists on hoarding all bones and toys for himself while the other guy barks indignantly. Be alert for this, and hold back high value long lasting treats and toys until you are sure they have worked things out.

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Jessica

06/05/2014 18:14

Thanks Craig and Emily for the advice, I really appreciate it. I will definitely suggest that to the rescue group bringing the new dog up here. That's really good to know as far as establishing dominance is concerned. I was wondering if Abby would feel she was dominant since she's been here the longest and is bigger; then again they told me the new dog Lucy can really hold her own with the bigger dogs, so I guess we will see.

Sarah Williams

06/10/2014 08:35

Thanks so much for the description above. We adopted Minny a little over a year ago, and people keep asking me what she is. Her paperwork says "Lab Mix"... She was brought to Wisconsin from a shelter in Kentucky, and she looks a lot like many images of Foxhounds or TWCs, but she has a litter mate in town who is all brown with almost none of the hunting instinct we see in Minny. Minny jumps up trees, takes bites out of them, won't stay nearby if she gets out of the yard. Her "sister" is just as fast and athletic, but won't go far from her people, and doesn't know what to do with a tree. We're thinking of finding someone who hunts who might want to dog-share with Minny, to let her use her instincts that we're always trying to minimize. Any suggestions on whether this is a good idea and/or how to go about finding someone?

Sarah
Sometimes mixes turn out much more like one parent than the other. Looks like Minny got the treehound genes! Lots of coonhound owners hire a handler to hunt their dogs, or "co-own" dogs that they think have hunting potential. Since Minny doesn't have papers, she won't be able to competition in hunt the UKC or AKC, but you could find someone who would want to "pleasure" hunt her for fun, or hunt her in the PKC, which isn't as fussy about papers. Wisconsin is famous for having large and high quality raccoons, so there are people who hunt for furs as well. Sounds like she's a potential moneymaker! You might even find you enjoy coonhunting yourself if you give it a try. I never hunted anything before I got my first coonhound, and took it up because he wanted me to. I mostly do "catch and release" hunting with my hounds, but have really enjoyed meeting other coonhunters and hanging out with them.Anyone who chases dogs chasing raccoons in the woods at night has to be able to laugh at themself, and most of them are great storytellers.
To connect with the coonhound world, I recommend that you find a UKC coonhound event near you here:
http://www.ukcdogs.com/Upcoming.nsf/EventView?Open&Group=Coonhound&Type=M
and show up with Minny on lead. The times are entry deadlines and the prices are to enter dogs in events--spectators are free. No firearms or alcohol are allowed and no animals are harmed. The hunters may tease you a bit, but they'll be glad to tell you what they think of her hunting potential and offer to show you what coon hunting is about. Don't let anyone there borrow your dog without you until you get some references, though. You want to be sure they aren't going to be overly harsh with discipline--many have old fashioned training notions. And, there are some who are dishonest enough to steal her if they think they deserve her more than you. Most are just fine if they know you, but may test an outsider.
You can find PKC event listings here
http://prohound.com/index.php/listevents/?View=C
They tend to be a little less welcoming of outsiders than UKC events in some places. They are also more focused on the hunt itself and less on bench shows, field trials, and general daytime events, so there is less chance to talk.
I'm not sure that letting her hunt with someone else will stop the behavior you don't want to see, although it may channel it to appropriate circumstances only. You could also try taking up a dog sport with her, especially something like nosework or mantrailing that plays to her strengths by engaging her nose and tiring her brain. She will respect you more if she is your "hunting" buddy.
Good luck with her!

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Sarah Williams

06/11/2014 18:49

Thanks! These are great ideas - I found a few events in my neck of the woods. Personally, I don't think I could do the hunting - not against the idea for others, but I can't imagine it for myself. Minny on the other hand, never stops hunting, so we'll see how she does!

I'm not a hunter, either. One thing you need to understand is that the choice is not hunt or no hunt. There's a full range of canine activities that range from, "Let's go kill us come 'coons," to tracking events with artificially created trails and no animal quarry. The sort of events favored by Emily are somewhere in between, with live animals being pursued, but not harmed. You need to find your own comfort level. Your hound will likely enjoy any of these events.

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Sarah Williams

06/13/2014 13:15

Thanks Jerry. I recently read about Barn Hunts and a few other options around here. I can see Minny having a ball with any of it, as long as she gets off leash at some point. Currently we have to keep her pretty well strapped in unless we're at a dog park.

Jessica

07/01/2014 17:13

Very curious about our new dog. Rescue group called her a "pocket coonie", probably with a lot of beagle in her. She's very small, only 30 lbs and for height I'd say she's not more than 15 inches tall or so (compared to Abby my most-likely-English-coonie who is 20 inches and weight in the mid 40s). She does look quite beagle-ish, except she seems built more delicately and is a bit leggier. Her muzzle also seems longer than a beagle's, like a foxhound or coonhound's. She doesn't have the treeing instinct like the other dog does, but she does get excited over rabbits and howls quite a bit. She is a pretty good runner too. People have told me she could have a drop of coonie or foxhound blood, or she could just be a poorly bred beagle. Here are some pics of her:
http://i.imgur.com/NqlGD9j.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/OYdNi0Q.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/vcPJnQq.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/drGcUMk.jpg
(in the last one she is on the left, Abby on the right)
She seems to have adapted well, although she is attached to Abby and follows her around most of the time. Rescue group & my vet believe she's 1 & and a half and she is quite energetic. Abby is 2 & a half and has mellowed out quite a bit. She'll try to nip at Abby's ears, cheeks or legs to get her attention when she wants to play, but sometimes Abby will get annoyed and take refuge in her crate.

I agree that she's likely a Beagle crossed with tall hound, likely foxhound. Still, I can't totally discount Harrier, as she fits the description pretty well. In over a decade of rescuing hounds I've only dealt with one confirmed Harrier and one probable, which demonstrates how rare they are in rescue. Still, she's close enough that not many will likely argue if you call her a Harrier.

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Jessica

07/01/2014 18:19

Thanks for the input Jerry, I really appreciate it. That's interesting, one of my good friends visited one day and said she looked like a Harrier too. Do you think it's possible she could be all Harrier (or close to one), or mixed with Beagle?

It's possible, of course. We don't know the ancestry of most rescue dogs, so we speculate. When you cross two purebreds, the result can be, as you'd expect, offspring that look midway between the two parents. More often, though, some in the litter will look more like one parent, and some will look more like the other. While your hound may look a lot like a pure Harrier, she might be one of several crosses. Just remember that true Harriers are very rare in this country, and it's therefore long odds that either parent is one.

This is a very informative site! I am considering adopting a 4 month old "tricolor hound mix" and am wondering about how she will do with our 2 and 3 year old Doxies (male and female). Any idea what type of hound she is? Our Doxies are pretty vocal, and I'm not sure our (close) neighbors could handle baying. Any help identifying her would be appreciated!

I have a TWH, Tammi, and she is a wonderful companion, however lately she has been stumbling just walking. This stumbling is mostly with her front legs/paws. She is 8 1/2 years old, this started about one month ago when she fell off the deck. At the time I did notthink anything about it. Her eating habits have not changed and she still likes to go for walks. She goes to the vet 1/year. And has always had a great check up. Any help would be appreciated.

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Craig

08/11/2014 05:08

That's interesting Neil. I've noticed my dog do the same thing. It's like her feet get tangled up and she faceplants. She's only 6. Her only injury that I'm aware of was being hit by a car at 6-months, but she broke no bones. Maybe a tendon detachment. Dunno. Love her anyway.

This sounds like some kind of nerve or brain issue. That's one for the vet to look into.
Coonhounds do have a high threshold for pain when injured. Check her toes individually and observe her carefully for signs of discomfort. Its possible she has a hairline fracture that causes her to stumble when she steps at just the right angle to cause pain.

there's a disease called "coonhound paralysis" that coonhounds occasionally get after contact with an infected raccoon. The raccon is a carrier and doesn't show symptoms. This is something that there is no known cure for, and passes eventually, sometimes after severe, but temporary, decline in the hound. Dogs with this disease are sometimes put down because the dog may not even be able to stand up for a period of a week or two. . Here are some links about the disease:
What Is Coonhound Paralysis
Canine diffuse neuromuscular disease
Acute Polyradiculoneuritis (Coonhound Paralysis)
Tammi's problem doesn't sound like that, but make sure your vet is aware of the disease--many small animal vets are not.
Acute Canine Polyradiculoneuritis

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Neil

08/11/2014 06:45

WOW, Thank you for the information!! I got Tammi about 5 years ago from the Humane Society. Tammi is not a hunting dog. she is never out of my site. Her coming in contact with a raccoon or anything even remotely like that is like me being an astronaut at 60 years old. My attempt at humor. Thank You Again. I just made an appointment for the Vet, one week from today.

those links don't seem to work. go to our "useful links" page for working links.

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Kathy Leighton

02/26/2015 17:13

I read the comments on intergrating/introducing coonhounds to other "dog family " members. I too have a JRT but also a German Shepherd, Tibetan Mastiff and Foxhound. Winston (coonhound) learned within 5 minutes his place in the pack when he went for another's chow. Meal time is precarious and hounds in general are lovingly glutinous!!! Poor guy still has a torn ear from that event but as someone else said, they "worked it out"! He remains the sweetest guy in the pack with an intellect that gives the German Shepherd a run for her money! I love his funny little ways.... He loves hitting the rocking chair and watching it rock, rearranges the furniture on the landing ( pushing it around with his head lol ), sits on my husbands head in the morning to wake us up, sleeps under the covers, bugles at animals on TV.... SUCH A CHARACTER! I shouldn't have favorites but this rescued hound from southern Virginia has worked his way into our hearts as number 1. I still can't let him off the lead but he has 4 fenced acres to run free. I wouldn't mind some advice on this. My "herders" are so good off lead .... the Foxhound to old to bolt... I worry about him getting lost or hurt if I let him out of the fence ( even with the GPS System) as he WILL take off. I can't even call this a flaw... It's his genetic make-up! I have grown up with dogs all my life and without a doubt, Coonhounds are my personal favorite!